Business To Present British Consul General

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Posted by Kara Kennedy on 2009-04-09

Martin Rickerd, Her Majesty's (Great Britain's) Consul General to Atlanta, will speak about the challenges and opportunities for the international economy on April 16, at 4 p.m. in Brock Forum. His visit is part of the International Business Speakers Series at Samford's Brock School of Business. The event is free-of-charge and open to the public, but registration is required.

"Consul General Martin Rickerd's visit to the Brock School of Business gives our students the opportunity to learn about international business issues seen from a different perspective," said Beck A. Taylor, dean of the Brock School of Business. "Rickerd's presentation is timely and will address economic issues that are affecting countries around the world."

Consul General Rickerd said he was much looking forward to speaking with Brock's students. "I always enjoy the opportunity to share a British view of the world with American students. Things often look different from the other side of the Atlantic."

Rickerd joined Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service in 1972, serving at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) London before being assigned to the UK Delegation to NATO (Brussels, Belgium) in 1975. He was transferred to Wellington, New Zealand in 1978.

In 1980 he returned to London to serve as Deputy Chief of Staff to a Minister in the FCO before being posted in 1982 to Barbados, where his duties took him to much of the Eastern Caribbean. From 1986 to 1990 he was responsible for press and political work at the British Consulate General in Milan, Italy.

In the early 1990s he was head of the FCO's International Energy section and subsequently head of section in South East Asia Department.

He was Head of Chancery [political section] at the British High Commission in Singapore from 1995 to 1998, when he returned to the UK to take up a secondment to Standard Chartered Bank at its London headquarters. From 2000 to 2003 he was Deputy Head of Mission and Consul at the British Embassy in Abidjan, Cte d'Ivoire (also working in Liberia, Burkina Faso and Niger).

Returning to London, he was Head of the North America Team in the FCO, dealing with the USA and Canada, until July 2005. In this capacity he oversaw arrangements for President Bush's State Visit to the UK in 2003.

He was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) in 1985 and an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2004. He accepted his current position as UK consul general to Atlanta in 2005.

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About Samford University – Samford University is a premier nationally ranked private university deeply rooted in its Christian mission. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th oldest institution of higher education in the United States. U.S. News & World Report ranks Samford 4th among regional universities in the South. Samford enrolls 5,619 students from 44 states, the District of Columbia and 29 other countries in its 10 academic units: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy, and public health. Samford also fields 17 NCAA Division I teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference.